A variety of tonneau covers for covering open beds of trucks, including canvas, single panels and caps, and multi-piece covers of interconnected panels exist in the prior art. Despite their obvious benefit of providing security and protection to the cargo and the open bed, as yet, none have achieved the widespread popularity one would expect among pick-up truck owners.
One reason is that tonneau covers have been costly and difficult to install and remove for storage. Another reason is that they have required more than one person to install and remove. Still another reason is that many initial installations have required special skills. Still yet another reason is that tonneau covers have been awkward to handle because of their shape and size.
With the foregoing in mind, it will be appreciated that an economical, lightweight, easily installed, tonneau cover, requiring only one person for installation and removal, would provide needed improvements over the prior art. Moreover, if the cover could be folded into a compact arrangement for handling and storage, it would be an even more desirable improvement over the prior art.